17
Objectives
After studying this lesson, you will be able to
• identify the environmental factors that impact personal identity.
• explain how factors in the environment can infl uence growth
and development.
• describe ways to respond to heredity and environment with
resilience.
Focus Your Reading
1. Create a graphic organizer with the lesson headings listed on
the left side. As you read, summarize how each environmen-
tal factor could affect personal identity.
2. Create a concept web showing how each term relates to
growth and development. Include a brief defi nition or exam-
ple of each term where it appears in the web.
Y
our environment includes everything in your surroundings
(Figure 1.11). Family, friends, home, school, and community are
part of your environment. All these factors infl uence your expe-
riences. As a result, they affect who you are and how you grow
and develop. They join with heredity to help shape your personal
identity. You inherit certain traits that infl uence how you look
and behave, but then your environment takes over. Your heredity
determines your potential for development, but your environment
determines if or how that potential is reached.
The Infl uence of the Family Environment
The family is usually the major human infl uence in a person’s
life. This is especially true during the preschool years, when children
spend most of their time with parents and other family members.
Thus, healthy relationships within the family are important for
maximum growth and development as well as for healthy per-
sonal identity and self-esteem.
ENVIRONMENT
AND
Y
OUR
IDENTITY
LESSON
1.3
Content
Terms
environment
prenatal
cultural heritage
peer
resilience
brain plasticity
Academic Terms
sibling
technology
media
Build
Vocab
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